Storytime: The Road to Reading Comprehension

Parents! Are you tired of paying hundreds of dollars for special programs

promising to teach your child reading skills?

Want to know how you can get your child reading ready now so they’ll start

school with their best foot forward?

Want to know how to do it for free?

YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY

Now offering storytime with reading readiness strategies for

children ages 0-4

Let us help you help your child!

Ok everyone, you are our most trusted team of librarians!

Now that you’ve all seen our new PSA, it’s time for training.

Since the first day of library school, we’ve each taken on an obligation:

Help develop young minds.

This chapter of your training will show you how to use storytime to develop

reading readiness skills in our youngest patrons.

So when the time comes, they'll not only love books, they'll be ready to read with

superior comprehension.

Without further ado, we present to you…

Storytime: The Road to Reading Comprehension

Storytime Strategies for Reading Success

Presented by:

Amanda Choi, Alison Day & Sylvie Rusay

San Jose State University

Teaching Comprehension: When to begin?

Difficult to know where to begin when teaching for comprehension.

When does meaning making start? How early is too early?

How do you start and what direction should you take babies and toddlers? Will they or can they interact with text at such a young age?....the answer is YES!!!

Teaching Comprehension: When to begin? cont.

Parents everywhere can tell you that babies and toddlers are perfectly capable of interacting with a text to some degree

But it is more than that. As Maryanne Wolf points out in her book Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain (2007), a child is preparing to read by utilizing any material they come in contact with, from a single word, to the text they see everyday.

Reading Comprehension? Literacy? Why bother? They’re just babies . . .

Literacy = SuccessLiteracy is best attained through gradual measures starting at birth. While conventional literacy skills such as reading, writing and spelling are developed later in life, there is a clear and consistent relationship with early literacy skills developed in the years from birth to age 4.

Low literacy means:

Less payHigher chances of unemploymentLess informed about civic affairsLess likely to meet the health care needs of their families.More likely to have trouble with the law or be involved in socially harmful activities.Less likely to vote

Reading Comprehension is a Building Block for Academic Success Developing reading comprehension skills early on can predict later success in reading, writing, and spelling.

Several research studies have demonstrated that early cognitive and linguistic development predict later achievement.

Various measures administered at the preschool and kindergarten levels reveal that patterns of preschool learning are closely linked with reading achievement in the primary grades. (National Early Literacy Panel, 2008).

Benefits of Strong Comprehension Skills

Children that comprehend well:

Use their comprehension strategies to deepen and enrich their understanding of what they are reading. This helps understanding of various types of texts, i.e. stories, informational text or poetry.

Are aware of their own thinking processes and make decisions to use different comprehension strategies as they read.

Realize that comprehension is more effort than ability. Studies show that they believe they can understand what they read if they apply the right comprehension strategies.

A Closer Look at the Five Essential Components of Effective Reading Instruction: A Review of Scientifically Based Reading Research for Teachers. (2004).

Storytime Evolution & The Comprehension Revolution

Library storytime plays an important part in helping children learn to read, but this wasn’t always the case

Literacy-focused storytime (the modern model) became widespread in the US by the mid-1950s (Albright et al., 2009)

This was a response to reading readiness research and theories of the time (Ramsburg, 1998)

Reading Readiness is the idea that young children need to be mentally prepared to learn to read

Storytime Evolution & The Comprehension Revolution cont.

Early reading readiness theories emerged in the 1920s (Ramsburg, 1998)

From the 1920s-1950s "Nature" theories predominated (Ramsburg, 1998) "Nature" theories argue: reading readiness results

from natural, biological maturation parents and educators were advised not to interfere

with nature and to hold off on reading education until a child reached a certain age


From the 1950s on "Nurture" theories predominate (Ramsburg, 1998) "Nurture" theories argue: reading readiness can be

fostered and even accelerated by experience parents and educators advised to expose children

to books and literature early and to use direct instruction

“Nurture” theories prompted librarians to take an active role in helping children learn to read, resulting in literacy-focused storytimes for the very young.


Research compiled from 1970-1990 led educators to realize that reading was more than decoding, or the act of systematically turning written words into spoken words by matching written letter or letter-clusters to oral sounds. (Gregory & Cahill, 2010)

The foundation for reading comprehension is built on certain pre-literacy skills.

Research has identified six key pre-literacy skills, which have been widely embraced by librarians and educators

The 6 Reading Readiness Skills*Print MotivationPhonological AwarenessVocabularyNarrative SkillsPrint AwarenessLetter Knowledge

*These grew out of landmark report published in 2000 by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) with the National Reading Panel called Teaching Children to Read: An Evidence-Based Assessment of the Scientific Research Literature on Reading and lts Implications for Reading Instruction.

Print Motivation Is a child's interest in and enjoyment of books (Peck,

2009). It helps to build an intimate relationship between child and text.

Children developing Print Motivation: enjoy being read to play with books pretend to write ask questions about reading and writing enjoy trips to the library (Morrow & Lamm, 2010)

Print Motivation: Storytime Strategies

Presenter must show that reading is fun by having fun themselves: read books you love

Ensure that children have fun and are involved by choosing age-appropriate materials, reading with emotion and finding ways to encourage participation (ALA, 2007)

Children love to imitate (Snow, 2007). The video demonstration that follows shows how imitation can encourage print motivation!

Phonological Awareness

Is the awareness of smaller sounds within words i.e. syllables, phonemes, and sounds that start and end words (Peck, 2009; Morrow & Lamm, 2010)

Children developing Phonological Awareness can: identify and make/anticipate rhymes clap out syllables in a word recognize when words begin with the same sound:

dad and dog (Morrow & Lamm, 2010)

Phonological Awareness: Storytime Strategies

Read stories with alliteration, strong rhymes and distinct rhythm

With poems and rhymes, pause and let children guess the rhyming word that comes next

Clap out syllables in words

Sing songs (ALA, 2007)

Vocabulary Refers to a child's word knowledge i.e. connecting

words to things, ideas, places, etc. (Peck, 2009)

Children with developing vocabularies: name objects in their world by 2 years of age, learn 9-12 new words a day may confuse words that sound similar: cabin vs.

cabinet may combine 2 words together to create a word

that describes a concept: last day for yesterday (Morrow & Lamm, 2010)

Vocabulary: Storytime Strategies Call attention to and name pictures in books

Pick out unfamiliar words in stories to discuss

Use synonyms to explain new words

Make connections to concepts and vocabulary when reading

Read fiction and non-fiction to expose children to the widest variety of words (ALA, 2007)

Narrative Skills Are a child's ability to understand stories and how to

tell them/describe events (Peck, 2009)

Children developing narrative skills: understand stories have a beginning, middle and

end describe events in their lives with increasing detail

as they get older begin to tell stories they've made up themselves may use story phrases like "once upon a time" and

"the end" (Morrow & Lamm, 2010)

Narrative Skills: Storytime Strategies

Encourage children to explain or retell events in the story

Have children help act out a story using props or puppets

Choose a storytime theme and have a discussion/ask children questions about the theme

Read a story through with little interruption so children are exposed to story structure (ALA, 2007)

Print Awareness is the understanding that print has meaning/that words on

a page correspond to spoken language (Peck, 2009)

Children developing print awareness: begin to understand how to use a book: how to hold it,

turn pages, read from right to left, etc understand that words are made of letters and that

there are spaces between words may pretend to read books know that books contain information and that people

read them for a purpose (Morrow & Lamm, 2010)

Print Awareness: Storytime Strategies

Model how to handle books

Run finger along text while reading/point to words or letters that stand out in the text

Call attention to the cover of the book, point to each word as you read the title

Let children "write" about the book after you finish reading (ALA, 2007)

Letter Knowledge is the ability to recognize and name letters of the

alphabet as well as knowing the sounds that go with the letters (Peck, 2009)

Children developing letter knowledge may: make nonsense marks on a page and call them

letters show an interest in writing their names/recognize

the letters in their names in other words know the alphabet song write letters upside down or backwards (Morrow

& Lamm, 2010)

Letter Knowledge: Storytime Strategies

Point out letters and talk about their sounds

Incorporate large foam or magnetic letters so children can see and touch shapes of letters

Have children form letters with their fingers or bodies

Use fun alphabet books and songs (ALA, 2007)

How Reading Readiness Leads to Reading Comprehension

So far we have presented six reading readiness skills. Each helps to develop better reading comprehension in its own way.

Print Motivation: If children are taught to love reading and embrace books early, they will want to engage with and understand the text. The interest and love developed through print motivation will lead to better comprehension because the child will feel a need to comprehend. Comprehension is the point of reading (National Institute for Literacy, 2009)

How Reading Readiness Leads to Reading Comprehension cont.

Vocabulary: The larger a child’s vocabulary, the more they will actually understand of a text. Thus, starting to develop a large vocabulary early will mean that they are also starting to develop their comprehension skills.

Narrative Skills: By asking children questions such as, “What do you think will happen next?” or “Why is this character sad?”, you are developing their narrative skills. By understanding how to tell a story and that stories are composed of actions and consequences, the child should be able to read a passage from a story and make inferences based on their narrative skills to help comprehend the meaning of that particular passage. This skill is commonly tested in standardized school tests.

How Reading Readiness Leads to Reading Comprehension cont.

Print Awareness, Phonological Awareness and Letter Knowledge: If a child cannot recognize individual letters or individual sounds the child is more likely to mispronounce and guess what word is being used. In such a situation, the child will have no hope of comprehending the meaning of the text. Thus, building such skills early on is crucial to building literacy and reading comprehension skills (Reading Rockets, 2010).

Dialogic Reading: Talk Now, Read Later

Dialogic Reading (aka Book Talk) is an important technique for teaching reading readiness skills during storytime

Developed by Grover Whitehurst at the Stony Brook Reading and Language Project (Whitehurst, 1992)

Actively involves children in the reading of a book by asking questions while reading in order to create a dialogue about the book

Dialogic Reading: Talk Now, Read Later cont.

The primary technique is the

PEER sequence. The reader:

Prompts the child to say something about the book

Evaluates the child's response

Expands the child's response by rephrasing and adding information to it

Repeats the prompt to make sure the child has learned from the expansion (Whitehurst, 1992)

EXAMPLE:Imagine a page with a picture of a blue flower. The reader points to the flower and asks the child: What is that? (the Prompt). The child responds: flower and the reader tells them: Yes, that's right! (the Evaluation). The reader then follows up by saying: It's a blue flower. (the Expansion). Finally, the reader asks again: What is that? (the Repetition)


There are five dialogue prompts you can use. Remember them by the acronym CROWD (Whitehurst,1992):

Completion prompts - Reader leaves a blank at the end of a sentence and lets the child fill it in. Works best with stories with rhymes and repetitions (encourages Phonological Awareness and Letter Knowledge)

Recall prompts - Reader asks a question about something that's already happened in the story (encourages Narrative Skills)


Open-ended prompts - used to talk about illustrations i.e. Tell me what's happening in this picture. (develops Narrative Skills & Vocabulary)

Wh- prompts - usually begin with what, where, when, why, and how questions and focus on illustrations i.e. What is the name of this? (develops Vocabulary and Narrative Skills)

Distancing prompts - ask children to relate the pictures or words in the book to their real-life experiences. For example, looking at a book about pets, the reader can ask children about the pets they have at home. (encourages Narrative Skills)

Other Key Storytime Strategies

Monitor for meaning: Realize if you are losing your audience because they do not understand.

Use schema: Relate the new to the known; use established knowledge to help children understand new information. Make connections with the text and reader.

Infer: Predict, help young audiences form opinions and draw conclusions.

Create images: Use images and emotions to understand a story.

Determine importance: What ideas and concepts are most important? (Keene, 2010)

A Word About Storytime & Babies

Read to babies and point out clues about the story in illustrations.

Listening comprehension will lead to reading comprehension

Relate pictures to items in the baby’s life. They will understand! Children have an innate ability to construct

personal narratives. Making connections encourages them to actively participate and be interested in a book.

The next slide presents a video demonstration of some of the storytime strategies discussed in this presentation. This mock storytime was recorded on Sunday September 26, 2010. The reader is Alison Day. Alison is reading to Arianna and Amelia, sisters ages 4 and 3, respectively.

This video demonstrates the following: Letter awareness: through the use of an ABC poster and

the ABC song. Print awareness: through an activity with an Arizona tea

can, and questions about how to hold the book. Narrative skills: through the questioning about what will

happen next. Print motivation: through offering encouragement and

associating a craft with the text.

Thanks, Team. That concludes today’s training. We hope you found it useful and will

incorporate the storytime strategies we’ve discussed into your next story hour.

ReferencesAlbright, M., Delecki, K., & Hinkle, S. (2009). The evolution of early literacy: A history of

storytime best practices. Children and Libraries. 7(1), 13-18.

American Library Association. (2007). Early literacy storytime watch. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/ecrr/ecrrinpractice/storytimeapplications/bookmarkhandouts/bookmarks.pdf.

American Library Association. (2007a). Early literacy observation checklists. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/ecrr/ecrrinpractice /storytimeapplications/observationchecklists/observationchecklists.cfm.

Gregory, A.E. & Cahill, M. A. (2010). Kindergartners can do it, too! Comprehension strategies for early readers. Reading Teacher. 63(6), 515-520.

Keene, E.O. (2010, March). New horizons in comprehension. Educational Leadership.69-73.Learning Point Associates. (2004). A closer look at the five essential components

of effective reading instruction: A review of scientifically based reading research for teachers. Naperville, IL. Retrieved September 22, 2010 from http://www.learningpt.org/pdfs/literacy/components.pdf.

Morrow, C. & Lamm, K. (2010, April 15). Ready to read: The six reading readiness skills. [Video File]. Retrieved from http://www.lexpublib.org/page/ready-to-read-the-six-reading-readiness-skills.

National Early Literacy Panel. (2008). Developing early literacy: Report of the National Early Literacy Panel. Washington, DC: National Institute for Literacy.

References (Con’t)

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel. Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction: Reports of the subgroups (NIH Publication No. 00-4754). Washington DC, US Government Printing Office.

National Institute for Literacy. (2009). Research definitions Retrieved from http://www.nifl.gov/research/researchdef.html#comp

Peck, P. (2009). Crash course in storytime fundamentals. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

Ramsburg, D. (1998). Understanding literacy development in young children. Adoption.com. Retrieved September 24, 2010, from http://library.adoption.com/articles/understanding-literacy-development-in-young-children.html.

Reading Rockets. (2010). Phonemic awareness. Reading Rockets. Retrieved September 30, 2010, from http://www.readingrockets.org/atoz/phonemic_awareness.

Snow, S. (2007). Building blocks: Building a parent-child literacy program at your library. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

Whitehurst, G. (1992). Dialogic reading: An effective way to read to preschoolers. Reading Rockets. Retrieved September 26, 2010, from http://www.readingrockets.org/article/400.

Wolf, M. (2007). Proust and the squid: The story and science of the reading brain. New York, NY: Harper Perennial.

Storytime: The Road to Reading Comprehension

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